An Incredible Season for Patrick Mahomes

Joshua O'Neill- 23 January 2019

Submitted by Joshua O'Neill
on 23 January 2019

A New Era in Kansas

At the start of the NFL season, if someone were to say that Patrick Mahomes was going to be an all-star quarterback, they would probably have been laughed at. Now, if you even mention his name, everyone knows exactly who you are talking about and talks so highly of him. Twenty-three year old Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is dominating the league and continued his promising season in the playoffs.

Patrick Mahomes was taken as 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Mahomes was drafted out of Texas Tech University. At Texas Tech, he was able to make an immediate impact by playing seven games as a freshman. He would then be the starter for all of his sophomore and junior year. He would then be drafted heading into his senior year. When he got drafted, he left Texas Tech finishing with a total of 11,252 yards, 93 touchdowns, and a 63.5 completion percentage. It would have been very exciting to see what he could have done in his senior year, but the Chiefs felt that he was the best quarterback in that draft class and the Chiefs had high interests.

Mahomes seemed like a perfect fit for the team’s offensive style and the players surrounding him. Everything seemed to click between Mahomes and the Chiefs as time moved along even from when they started learning plays. Mahome’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, was reporting about his progress and success early during training and said to The Washington Post, “Patrick went up to the chalkboard and did the pro plays perfectly, which you’re not supposed to be able to do,” Steinberg said. “He was instantly able to adapt to the Chiefs terminology, and it showed how instantaneous his learning pattern is.”

From the moment he got into the locker room, to where he is today, all he has shown is his incredible athleticism and skill set which have lead him to so much success this season. He has put up some incredible numbers (in terms of statistics) such as over 5,000 yards passing with 50 touchdowns during the regular season. On top of that, he has not gone one game without throwing for less than 240 yards and has not lost a game by more than one touchdown. In an interview with Fox sports, Mahomes said, “I never envisioned all the touchdowns and the yards.”

Mahomes is putting up consistent numbers and pulling off incredible plays that the NFL has not seen before. For example, he was able to pull of a no look pass. The significance of this is that as a quarterback you have to be able to see where you are throwing and to hit a moving target is already hard enough, but completing a pass without looking at the receiver and throwing it from an unorthodox sidearm angle is just unheard of. Mahomes attributes his athletic plays to his multi-sport background in basketball and baseball.

Besides making all the fancy plays, Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs are just focused on winning throughout the playoffs. Last Saturday, Mahomes and the Chiefs were able to take down the Colts 31-13 in the divisional round, and advanced to AFC conference championship. Mahomes had a solid game finishing with 278 yards with 0 touchdown and interception coming up with big plays when needed.

On Sunday, the Chiefs played in the AFC championship against Tom Brady and the Patriots. It was a crazy back-and-forth game between the two teams. So crazy that there were a total of 10 points scored in under a minute left in the 4th quarter. Three of those points came from a field goal from the Chiefs to send the game into overtime. The field goal was set up by a long drive lead by Mahomes with only 39 seconds left in regulation. The Chiefs were unable to get the ball in overtime due to the Patriots scoring a touchdown in their first drive. Mahomes finished the game with 295 yards and 3 touchdown including some spectacular and clutch plays.

Although Mahomes and the Chiefs’ season is over, everyone across the league has respect for what they have done this season, especially Mahomes. After the game, Tom Brady requested to speak privately with Mahomes in a locker room where he praised Mahomes for his skills and how good he is.

Mahomes had an incredible year and will likely be a top quarterback for years to come. Many think that there is a good chance he will have the chance to play in a Super Bowl in the future.